ARMOUR FOR SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2884, 23 September 1916, Page 10

ARMOUR FOR SOLDIERS

j— <f LORD SYDENHAM CONSIDERS IT IMPRACTICABLE. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's recent suggestion that armour should be worn as a protection against shrapnel and machine-gun and rifle fire by our troops who are engaged in storming the enemy's trenches has aroused a great deal of interest and has been widely discussed (says the London "Observer"). In many quarters, however, it is considered that it would be too heavy for a man and-would, hamper his movements, even though the rest of his load should consist only, as Sir Conan Doyle says, of his helmet, his revolver and his bag of bombs. Still, there are some authorities who .-rather favour the suggestion, and say: "Let us, at any rate, make the experiment, and soo whether there is any good in it." On the general question of protective armour for troops in modern warfare, Lord Sydenham pointed out that it depends entirely on what a soldier can carry. "I can only say," ho remarked, "that 1 do not think that armour impenetrable by rifle or machinegun bullets at short ranges would t be practicable. I cannot believo that" a soldier carrying entrenching tools and his rifle and ammunition could, possibly manage tho additional weight " It will probably.be recalled by soldiers that it was Lord Sydenham who was the first to apply bullet-proof lids acting as shields to the axle-tree boxes of field guns. These shiolds, which were made of special steel, afforded tho gunnors a considerable amount of protection, but if they were used now, lie said, in tho form of a breastplate they would bo too heavy. As to tho suggestion that it would be a good thing to cover the heart with steel, even if a man could not carry a whole breastplate of armour, Lord Sydenham pointed out that it would not help tho attack.' "Sometimes," he said, "tho ■ heart has been pierced without fatal results. Whereas any tearing wounds, such as the barbarously reversed bullets used by the Germans, or tho explosive bullets nsed by tho Aiistrians, nroduce in other vital parts of tho bodv, arc almost certainly fatal. 1 really do not think that rendering the heart immune would be of any military importance."